Rapunzel, Let Down Your Shopping Receipt
A retelling
Mother took off moments ago to pick up a package for me: an elliptical bike. I’m skeptical that flying brooms can carry something as heavy as gym equipment, but I might not be in a position to argue — I was never allowed to fly.
The elliptical bike was a last resort idea. I haven’t exercised in months. I’ve been in pajamas since March, drawing river dolphins and maple forests with my paint markers.
I stumbled upon the markers the same day I ordered green hair dye and a hand blender. You know, for lentil soup. The blender, not the dye.
As we’re forced to stay inside our towers, I’m starting to reach the conclusion that life doesn’t have any meaning. The reason I shop and make laborious wishlists is just to stay away from these thoughts. The worst thing is, I’m afraid I’ve been doing this my whole life.
I begin plaiting a rope out of shopping receipts. It takes time to make it fifteen meters long. Meanwhile, Earth has rotated enough to let the afternoon sun enter the room and shine its lustrous rays on all the impulsive purchases scattered around the floor. I’ll have to leave most of them behind. When your only friends are online purchases, choosing between them is hard. I put the first things my eyes land on in a backpack: markers, dye, a fondue kit, and folding organizers. I climb down the rope thinking they’d come in handy, but when the rope starts to yield I let the backpack fall to reduce the weight. The fondue kit smashes on the rocks, leading me to imagine my folding organizers covered in hair dye. Fine, let them break, it was never about those things anyway.
Since the markers are still in one piece, I use them to draw closeups of nature in the area. The grass underneath my feet is calling me to roll in it like a puppy. When I get up, I resemble one of the bushes. If only it’d be so easy to become part of something.
I breathe in the smell of dirt through my mask. Watching the sunset fills me with a longing to run away and make a new life for myself in town. But that would be irresponsible and selfish.
With nothing left to do, I climb back up the shopping receipts. There’s still time to wash off before Mother finds out I’ve been partying on my own all over her property. I should be able to refrain from further adventures, for now, having refilled my creative well. I’ve met enough bugs to have drawing inspiration for weeks.
My time will come.
